In the field of medicine there are often occasions in which a suture needs to be secured in a position or a condition selected by a doctor or other attending health care provider. Examples occur in surgeries in which a suture is used to approximate two different segments of tissue to one another, for example during a gastropexy procedure. In traditional gastropexy, the stomach wall of a patient is secured against the inner surface of the abdominal wall by one or more sutures passing from external of the patient, through the abdominal wall, through the stomach wall, and into the stomach. Oftentimes, an anchor, such as a T-bar anchor, is connected to that portion of the suture that resides in the stomach. With the anchor positioned against the inner stomach wall, the suture is tensioned from outside the patient to pull the stomach wall against the abdominal wall. At that point, the suture needs to be secured at a position external of the patient to maintain the applied tension. For these purposes, it is known to either stitch the suture to the skin of the patient, or to use a suture retention device connected to the suture that abuts against the skin of the patient and holds the tension. After securing an extended segment of the stomach against the abdominal wall with several such suture-anchor arrangements, a number of useful procedures can be conducted, usually involving intubating the stomach of the patient by passing a tube through the region where the abdominal wall and stomach that are held against one another.
It is desirable to conduct gastropexy surgeries and other similar tethering or tissue anchoring surgeries rapidly, efficiently, and safely. To accomplish these ends, there are needs for improved and alternative suture retention devices, and associated assemblies and methods.